NaNoWriMo

A lot of writers, both professional and aspiring, like to bitch and moan about how NaNoWriMo is going to destroy “real” writing. Sorry, but no it isn’t.

Why do I do NaNo? For one thing, it’s fun. I like to challenge myself by seeing how much I can write in such a short period of time and kickstart a WIP at the same time. I, like many writers, am guilty of overthinking my writing sometimes. I try to edit as I go along and as a result I might get frustrated or end up dumping the whole thing. I can’t do that with NaNo. I have to keep moving forward toward my goal of 50,000 words and don’t have time to look back. I can go back later and take out the terrible, terrible things and extract 70% of the commas.

Another criticism I hear a lot is that “it claims that anyone can be a writer and that’s not right.” No, it’s the opposite. It’s exactly right.

ANYONE can be a writer. If you sit down and put fingers to keyboard and write a story, you are a writer. You may not be a published writer, you might not even be a good writer, but you are a writer. We don’t say someone isn’t a runner because they don’t run a 10 minute mile or isn’t a guitar player because they only know four chords.

For some reason, writers are a jealous bunch. Even if it’s your best friend who made it onto the bestseller list there is a little part of you that is jealous it isn’t you. I’ve met a lot of writers who even try to talk someone else out of writing because they “don’t want the competition.” This is some bullshit. A little jealousy isn’t too bad but actively trying to discourage another writer is wrong.

So yeah, I do NaNoWriMo. I encourage everyone who is interested in writing to do it too and add me as a friend so we can encourage each other. To paraphrase the words of House Stark: November is coming.